One More Time
by baristabird
Summary: Loki escaped Asgardian jail. Welp. Well, since he's already here, he might as well try to conquer Earth. Again.
1. Chapter 1

Jane couldn't help running around frantically as the final touches were made on the latest experiment. Even Dr. Selvig had come down, interested in seeing the final product of over a year's worth of work.

"Make sure the level four pistons have been properly oiled," she said to the mechanics leader for the fifth time, scurrying past quickly. With her (untouched)!espresso in one hand an a clipboard in the other, the astrophysicist should have been ready to handle rocket science. In truth, she was even more frazzled than she let on.

"If I don't get this right, I could lose my job!" she squeaked to no one in particular. While not necessarily true, the radiation ray she had been working on was a big project for her company. She had worked on it diligently, but still had her doubts. What if she had made a miscalculation? What would happen if the machine malfunctioned and exploded or something? Jane itched to personally check every single bolt and screw to make sure they were tightened. If even a single button were out of place, she felt like she would be letting her company down. To let them down meant the possible destruction of Earth as they knew it. Of course, Jane experienced this kind of pressure almost everyday. It was the norm for a scientist at SHIELD. Unfortunately, the pressure didn't get better with each passing day. If anything, it got a lot worse as she slowly came to terms with the utter importance of her work.

Hearing her shout, Jane's friend and colleague, Dr. Selvig, came over to her.

"Jane, you'll be fine. You're the smartest girl I know! If anyone could handle this, it would be you." He gave her a cheery pat on the back and walked off. Jane sighed. Erik wasn't the best at human conversation. Looking up, she saw a SHIELD agent striding towards her, sunglasses still on. As if just realizing this, he whipped them off when he was at least five feet away from her.

"Agent Coulson? Have you come to inspect my work?"

The agent, despite having been under intense care since his near death incident in New York, was still the same as always.

"Let's get down to business, Ms. Foster. Is it completed?"

Slightly put off by his abrupt request, she stumbled for a bit, before replying, "Uh... Almost. Just some finishing touches..." She trailed off, scratching the back of her neck.

"Good. Tell me how it works."

"Well, the patient puts on this armband. The armband monitors the patient's heartbeat. If there is a substantial drop in his or her pulse, it will trigger a safety shut down. It ignores climbs in a heartbeat rate to take fear and anxiety into account. Also, the entire process excites the body, so it would be somewhat counter-intuitive to add that as a feature. However, if the person, say, doesn't have a heartbeat for five seconds, or dies or nears death, then the ray would stop immediately."

Coulson nodded, gesturing for her to continue.

"The day itself utilizes gamma radiation to send out immensely strong signals through the atmosphere. Through a process similar to sonar, or even the echolocation used by bats, the waves bounce back, much fainter and safer, for us to read. They have the potential to travel very far, so we can explore the depths of the galaxy, and even the universe!" she gave a proud smile, excited about her life's work. Coulson's face betrayed no emotion.

"Wonderful. But why the armbands?" he questioned.

Jane's shoulders sagged a bit. "Well, I don't really understand the details myself, since my forte is in astrology, but Erik-"

"Dr. Selvig."

"...Dr. Selvig confirmed the main reason. Basically, for ease of use, the controls are located at the base of the gamma ray. So if the machine malfunctioned and the people controlling the ray suffered radiation poisoning, the machine would stop automatically."

Coulson frowned. Or, more accurately, he maintained the expression he had been holding for the past five hours. "Why are the controls at the base of the ray? Why not make them mobile?"

Jane Foster winced. "Well, uh, we... erm... we wanted to avoid any hijacking by the enemy hostiles... so the safest way would be to keep the controls in one place... where they can't be interfered with."

"So you're saying it was just an oversight?"

She sighed. "Yeah. I guess I'm just not as used to all your high-techy stuff... All the equipment I've ever used was home-made. And I'm not saying I made it. Erik did. I was mostly the dreamer of the group..."

Coulson's eyes softened. "You'll adjust soon enough. We'll have the issues fixed sooner or later, but we might as well run a test drive now."

"Okay. Hopefully none of us turns into the Hulk," she joked, trying to lighten the mood.

No reaction. Agent Coulson put on his sunglasses again and walked off stiffly.


	2. Chapter 2

_Chapter I_

Loki sighed to himself as he waited in line for coffee. Though it wasn't nearly as delightful as the drinks found on Asgard, the murky brown beverage had grown on him, and besides, he needed to keep up his disguise. He looked down at himself.

Chocolate brown coat, boots, and a nice blue scarf. His skin was the same color as always but his black hair was now short and curly, and he knew his eyes were an icy blue. He fingered the wallet in his hands impatiently as he waited for the man in front of him to finish ordering.

"Hm, let's see.. I normally get a cappuccino, but I felt a little hasty so I thought I'd go for the espresso. So, one large- Oh my God no wait. That double mint chocolate chip frappe looks delicious. That's what that woman over there is having, right? Then, uh, I suppose..."

For Odin's sake. It's a fucking coffee. Loki rolled his eyes as the man finally retreated, content with his order. He stepped up, plastering a shy smile on his face.

"Hey, what can I get ya?" asked the barista, head cocked.

"Um... Can I have the latte over there? Yeah, that one," he said, pretending to be meek.

"Mmhm. And what size?"

"Medium, please."

"Got it. And a name?"

"Jared." The first name that had popped into his head, Jared was the name of Loki's waiter at a restaurant he had eaten at last night.

"Okay then. Your coffee will be ready in a few minutes, please wait over there."

They exchanged money and Loki stepped aside to let the others in line order their beverages. He did his best to wait patiently. Cursing the obedience with which he behaved, he pushed the wallet deep into his pocket. It wasn't even his, he had stolen it off of some unsuspecting tourist.

He hated New York. It was full to the brim with people who felt above themselves. Did they not know that they were bossing around their rightful king?

_No, of course not. My disguise is, of course, is flawless,_ Loki thought to himself. He took his latte with a forced smile and walked out of the joint, pushing the glass doors gently. As he hopped down the stairs, a gust of wind blew past him into the coffee house, causing a human near the door to shudder with cold. A small wind had picked up and his navy blue scarf fluttered around Loki's face as he took a sip. He bit his lip. Hot. He blew on it as he began a brisk walk down the street in the cold.

Loki didn't mind the cold. As a jotun, he figured it would never bother him. Hel, if some insolent fool had somehow managed to trap him in a block of ice, the prince figured he wouldn't feel the chill at all.

The heat was what bothered him. With a subtle twitch of his fingers, his latte froze over momentarily, cooling it down to room temperature. Loki took another sip, thinking about the last time he had been in New York, the time when he had tried to take over Midgard.

Eh. It hadn't worked out just right, but that was because his plan had had so many flaws. Loki hadn't been in his right mind, after all. He remembered when he had first appeared in this world. He had been sweaty, dizzy, and had stumbled a bit. All symptoms of heat exhaustion. Because how does one torture a frost giant? With heat.

Thanos' servant, The Other, had supplied him with his soldiers and his scepter, sure. But he had gotten Loki's allegiance through brainwashing and torture that made Loki shiver when he thought about it. He remembered one time when The Other had brought in a cage of something.

"These creatures are only found on Earth..." he had said to Loki with a smile before revealing a mass of fire ants. After that, Loki's memories had been a hazy blur. All he knew was that when the torture had ended he had found himself surrounded by humans. He vaguely remembered babbling something about ants to the man with the eye patch.

Clutching his cold latte, Loki shook his head. No use thinking about those things now. He had escaped from Asgardian jail fairly easily, and was now a fugitive of the nine realms. Conquering Midgard would be easy now that he had a proper plan. The first step was to lie low and wait for things to fall in place.

Ruling Midgard wasn't his ultimate goal. If anything, it was the tiny, unnecessary step along the way, the optional course that he would complete to build up his forces before the real challenge began. Asgard was the kingdom that he really wanted. It was rightfully his! Loki was older, smarter. A much better candidate for the throne than that imbecile, Thor. But Odin was blinded by his love for his _true_ son, and could not bear to believe that the other monster he had raised had surpassed Thor in every way.

Loki scowled. Now he was forced to prove through sweat and tears to Odin that he could rule Asgard, instead of having the crown just passed to him, as was his birthright.

Though much of it was a painful fog, one memory of being with The Other stuck with Loki. When Loki had decided to fall off of the rainbow bridge, he had been captured by the Chitauri. Shortly after, The Other had allowed him to see Asgard. Loki would never forget what he saw.

His 'family'. His 'friends'. All were laughing and cheering, enjoying themselves in a banquet. The feast was in honor of Loki's death. At that moment, Loki had felt something inside him harden and then shatter into a million pieces. He had clenched his teeth, and then the torture and brainwashing began.

He had emerged from The Other's control as a new being. Even after Thor and his buddies had shipped him off to Asgard, Loki still felt the desire to claim what he wanted resonating deep in his bones. Asgard was his material desire, but when he really thought about it, all Loki truly wanted was the chance to hurt Thor the way he had hurt him. And what better way to do that than taking the woman he appeared to love so much?

The fallen prince stopped outside of a tall building, taking a swallow of his latte. Sticking a hand into his coat pocket, he muttered something under his breath, and a small plastic card shot up into his hand. He took the card and looked at it.

**Ryan Hampton**

**Male**

**22 yrs**

Under the various strings of numbers and letters was a picture of Loki in this human form, wearing a red T-shirt. 'Ryan' was smiling at the camera shyly, looking a bit uncomfortable if anything but happy nonetheless. Loki took a moment to appreciate his own acting skills before swiping the card against a slot by the door. The door slid aside with a quiet scream of protest, revealing a dark hallway. Loki continued strolling inside without hesitation, comfortable despite the lack of light.

Soon, all he could see was blackness, save for a glowing red panel with flashing dots. Placing his hand on the keypad, Loki tapped in the numerical code he had been given (though he knew the codes given to almost everyone) and stepped through the next door into a bright white vicinity.

Pretending to squint with the sudden brightness, he allowed his jaw to slacken to give off a more amazed appearance. He held his ground as he heard someone approaching behind him. They were doing a very poor job of trying to surprise him.

"Hello. You must be Ryan," greeted Jane Foster. Loki gave a small jump and turned around, furrowing his brow.

"Uh.. yes, that's me. And you are…"

"Jane Foster, but you can call me Jane. I requested a new intern after Darcy wrapped up her studies."

Darcy. Loki remembered her. The sassy girl who followed Jane and Thor wherever they went. Despite her sickening love for his brother, Loki couldn't help but smirk when he thought of her snappy commentary.

"Oh, yeah, that's me! Ryan Hampton, at your service." Loki did a stiff little bow, hoping to elicit a smile from his brother's lover.

He succeeded, naturally. Jane let out a small laugh as well. "Okay then, let me show you around. This is the elevator.. and we work on the sixty third floor. So you put the keycard in this slot here, then press the button, then take it out. Yeah, like that. Nice!"

Loki grinned, but it wasn't because of the praise. Humans were so gullible. His plan was working out perfectly.


End file.
